Vader's Trial
by deathstar33
Summary: Darth Vader faces an enemy that he will never forget. All characters and ideas in this story are based off those of Lucasfilm Ltd. and Marvel, which I do not own the rights to.
1. Chapter 1

The planet of Geonosis housed nothing but miserable memories and pain to Darth Vader, who took his last step of the clean metal ramp on his _Lambda-class Shuttle_ and onto the red sandy and rocky ground of Geonosis. He looked around. The caves looked the same as they had the last time he had come there with Doctor Aphra, when they had gone to the planet to collect an army of droid-Geonosians. The caves were destroyed beyond repair, crumbling to the ground. One collapsed right before his eyes, leaving a cloud of dust circling the ruins. He looked straight ahead at the ruin of a large droid ship, its metal remains sinking deep into the sand. He ignored the piles of metal and the ruins of battle droids, which littered the ground. He continued walking across the sand.

For quite a while, there was nothing but sand in large dunes, scattered here and there across the wide expanse of the desert. He suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Right before his eyes was a Republic Gunship, which had crashed into the sands years ago. Its wing had been clipped from the sky, and it still looked charred, even after all that time. The once white outer walls of the craft were stained a sandy brown, and the thing that troubled him most of all about it was the art on the side of the ship. There was no doubt in Vader's dark twisted mind that this was the craft that Anakin Skywalker and his padawan Ahsoka Tano had flown on so many years ago. But Anakin was nothing to him. Anakin was only a painful reminder of what he was. What he could have become. What he had had. But that life was nothing at all. It was useless. There was not a point. He was a servant to the Jedi. He was suddenly swept back to a conversation that he had once had with Obi-Wan, when he was only a mere Jedi Knight. It was after the Jedi's love, Duchess Satine Kryze, had died at the hands of Darth Maul. "It was my entire fault!" He master had loudly whisper. "All mine!" He had looked down at the small holoplayer that was in his hand. It showed a city on Mandalore, which had been ravaged by the Death Watch. "Perhaps Master Qui-Gon was right! Perhaps we are just programmed…" Obi-Wan's face drained of color after he realized what he had said. He flicked off the holoplayer and whispered to himself, or whoever he had the comment directed at, "I didn't mean that."

Darth Vader had thought back to how Anakin had felt. He hadn't felt betrayed, though he felt that he should. Obi-Wan had told Anakin about Qui-Gon's views on the Jedi Order, and Anakin secretly agreed, in some aspects. But now, Anakin Skywalker was dead. Anakin Skywalker had died on Mustafar, burnt by the lava, the fire, abandoned by Obi-Wan. Jedi were only mere servants, nothing more. And with that, using all his will power, Vader lifted the scraggly remains of the gunship into the air and threw them across the desert. They landed with a horrid screech, metal scraping on rock. The hissing of Vader's breathing filled the silent desert after the gunship was silenced by a large mound of quicksand, which had devoured it. Anakin Skywalker wasn't Darth Vader, though. They were the furthest thing from each other, with Anakin begin a keeper of the peace and Darth Vader being an all powerful lord of the Sith. Vader didn't think of himself as Anakin Skywalker. He had tried to forget everything, to let Anakin die completely. But, still, the memories kept on coming back, taunting him. To Vader, Anakin Skywalker was dead; he had been dead for twenty-one years now. Now he was Darth Vader, all powerful lord of the Sith. And he was here on Geonosis to find something that Anakin would have dreaded destroying, but Vader, though now filled with memories of the past, almost craved to destroy. The time was right and could never be better. His dark cape disappeared into the harsh desert winds, which were filled with sand, and he walked toward the Petranaki arena, the arena where Anakin had almost died. The arena where Vader felt that he would be reborn. Forever.


	2. Chapter 2

The arena was empty, as always. That hadn't changed, and it wouldn't, or at least Dash hoped it would stay that way. He was sitting in an old droid factory. There were small red piles of sand and rock piled up against the walls of the factory. A portion of the rock ceiling had long collapsed, and, using scavenged droid parts, Dash had made a new ceiling. He was sitting at a reprogramed computer that had once operated the droid factory, and he was waiting for a transmission; he had been waiting for it for days now. He looked at the holoplayer that was positioned next to the computer. Nothing. But he had more important things to do now than just sit and wait.

He reattached his holoplayer to his belt and stood up from the old rickety chair that had been made out of bits of droirdikas. He walked out of the entrance that had been carved from the rock, and he entered the Petranaki arena, where a large scope like structure stood mounted on a rock. It was insane technology, and the Empire would want it. Badly. Dash approached it, and positioned the scope so that it was facing the sky. He looked into the eye, and he began to punch coordinates into the small computer that was on the side of it. There it was. The Seventh Fleet stalked Tatooine, looking for something, though he wasn't sure what. Force be praised that Thrawn isn't still at the helm of one of those ships; all those other Imperials are laser brains. He would have found me by now, Dash thought to himself. But the Seventh Fleet was around Tatooine, and that's all he needed to know now. He had to get a message to Mon Mothma right away, or some other important rebel. Even though he had sat on this rock for many years, he was as much a rebel as Gial Ackbar, with a scope that was helping the rebels protect the Outer Rim. And he had to defend the technology. The technology t wasn't complicated, but it was all at the same time. You had to use basic materials, like certain metals, to create the scope. Metal was one thing that the Empire would never run out of. But the computer was made using electrobinoculars, a targeting computer, and other technology that was not easily understand by everyone. But Dash did. He had programed the scope for the Rebellion, and he put it to good use. Secretly, he had alerted the Rebellion on a matter of events that were happening in the Outer Rim. And now, here was the Seventh Fleet. He knew that his holoplayer was about as close to dead as it could be, but he still tried to get a signal through to the Rebel Fleet.

To his surprise, he saw a rebel. They had to be, or at least they defiantly weren't an Imperial. Whoever they were, they had blond hair that wasn't well kemp and they were wearing a yellow jacket. The thing that got Dash was that whoever this was, they had a lightsaber attached to their belt. You could always trust someone with a lightsaber, or most of the time. "This is Luke Skywalker. Um… you've just reached the Alliance fleet." Skywalker! If this was a decedent of Anakin Skywalker, this guy was good. "This is Dash Ryler, patroller of Geonosis, speaking. Please inform the most superior officials of the Alliance that the Seventh Fleet has reached Tatooine." "Um, ok," Luke said. "I will make sure to. May the Force be with you, Dash," Luke added as he turned off his holoplayer.

Skywalker. That kid was a Skywalker. And he had to be a Jedi. And Dash was a clone. A clone who liked a good lightsaber; a clone that had survived the Clone Wars. Who had gotten his brain chip removed; a clone that had learned to survive. A rebel clone. He ignited the bright blue blade of the lightsaber that had never left his side ever since he had found it on Geonosis at the arena about ten years ago. The blade reflected off the sand, turning it a mystical blue color. "So the Jedi have survived?" He asked the seats of the arena. He stared at the rows upon rows of empty chairs, awaiting an answer that would never come.


End file.
